“MV Juliano” ship heads for Gaza 6Jul11 July 7, 2011

The Gaza-bound Juliano ship left Greece Wednesday afternoon, after suffering huge delays due in part to a ban set by Athens on the departure of flotilla ships from its ports.

On board the ship are 20 activists. Last week flotilla organizers claimed that Israel had sabotaged the ship in an attempt to prevent it from sailing.

“We are at sea,” former Israeli Dror Feiler, one of the organizers, told Ynet. “All roads lead to Gaza. It will be a small but high-quality flotilla.”

Greta Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Free Gaza movement, told Ynet that the Juliano will rendezvous, in international waters, with a French boat already at sea before heading towards the Strip. She gave no details on the location of the meeting.

Feiler also refused to provide details on the progress planned for the boats. “At this point I can only say that after a lengthy battle we finally succeeded in departing. The Greeks gave us a lot of trouble, but we met all of their conditions and they couldn’t hold us any longer,” he said. “It was like David versus Goliath.”The former Israeli also lamented the fact that a Greek company had reneged on a deal to provide cement for the people of Gaza.

“They gave us our money back, said they had been pressured and that they could not hold up their end of the deal,” he said, adding that the flotilla organizers plan to sue the company.

The Juliano had previously attempted to set sail on Tuesday, but the Greek coast guard surrounded the ship and quashed the attempt. Now, Feiler believes, the only thing standing between them and Gaza is the IDF

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